KR20160088764A - Flexible device and operating method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A flexible device may include a display part which can be bent by an external force; a sensor part which detects at least one of the bending operation and the folding operation of the flexible device; and a control part which determines the appearance information of the flexible device deformed by at least one operation, and controls the movement of an object in a screen displayed on the display part based on the appearance information. So, a device having a flexible display and a method for operating the same can be provided.

Description

[0001] FLEXIBLE DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD FOR THE SAME [0002]

To a flexible device having a flexible display and an operation method therefor.

With the development of display technology, flexible display and transparent display panel are being developed. A flexible display means a display device in which a shape is deformed and warped.

The flexible display gives flexibility to replace, fold and unfold a glass substrate wrapped with liquid crystal in a conventional LCD and organic light emitting diode (OLED). Because flexible displays use plastic substrates instead of the commonly used glass substrates, they use low-temperature manufacturing processors instead of conventional manufacturing processors to prevent substrate damage.

Flexible displays are not only thin, light, but also resistant to impact. Flexible displays also have the advantage that they can be bent or bent and can be manufactured in various shapes. In particular, flexible displays can be used in industries where the application is limited or impossible with conventional glass substrate-based displays.

For example, new portable IT products, such as electronic books, which can replace magazines, textbooks, books, and comics, and smart cards that can be folded or rolled up, It can be a field of application of display. In addition, since flexible displays use flexible plastic substrates, they can be extended to clothing fashion and medical diagnostics.

On the other hand, as the flexible display is commercialized, a new type of interfacing method of flexible display is being studied by utilizing the bending or folding property of the flexible display.

A device having a flexible display, and a method of operating the device. The present invention also provides a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute the method is provided. The technical problem to be solved by this embodiment is not limited to the above-mentioned technical problems, and other technical problems can be deduced from the following embodiments.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flexible device comprising: a display unit which can be bent by an external force; A sensor unit for sensing at least one of a bending operation and a folding operation of the flexible device; And a control unit for determining appearance information of the flexible device modified by the at least one operation and controlling the display unit to move an object in the screen displayed on the display unit based on the appearance information, / RTI >

The control unit may be configured to distinguish the screen into at least one area based on at least one bending area or at least one folding area and to control the moving of the object based on the appearance information of the at least one area .

Also, the display unit may display an image on which the object moves based on the appearance information.

The control unit may detect a first area in which at least one of the at least one area is located, and determine, based on at least one of a slope of the first area and a frictional force of a part corresponding to the first area in the screen And control to move the object.

Here, the moving speed of the object moved by the controller in the first area is proportional to the slope of the first area, and is inversely proportional to the frictional force of the part corresponding to the first area.

If the slope of the first area is different from the slope of the second area, the control unit may control the speed of the object in the first area to be different from the speed of the object in the second area .

Also, the control unit may control to move the object based on at least one of the peripheral information of the moving object and the moving direction of the object.

Here, the peripheral information may include at least one of the size of the obstacle in the first area and the number of the obstacles.

The apparatus may further include a user interface for receiving an input signal that determines a magnitude of a force and a direction of a force that are virtually applied to the object on the screen.

Here, the control unit may control to move the object in the screen based on the input signal and the appearance information.

The input signal may be a swipe input, a fill-in input, or a drag-and-drop input.

In addition, the user interface is a touch panel that senses a touch input, and the touch panel is integrated with the display unit to sense the touch input.

Also, the sensor unit may acquire physical information of the flexible device modified by the at least one operation, and the controller may determine the appearance information of at least one area based on the physical information.

Here, the physical information may include at least one of a bending angle, a bending curvature, a folding angle, and a folding curvature of the flexible device.

In addition, the sensor unit may be provided on one surface of the display unit and bent integrally with the display unit, and may include a plurality of sensors.

Also, the screen is displayed as a three-dimensional image, and the control unit acquires an image in which the three-dimensional data corresponding to the at least one area is changed as the outline information of the at least one area changes, And the display unit may display a screen on which the object moves in the changed image.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a flexible device, comprising: sensing at least one of a bending operation and a folding operation of the flexible device; Determining appearance information of the flexible device modified by the at least one operation; And controlling to move an object in the screen displayed on the display unit of the flexible device based on the appearance information.

The step of determining the appearance information may further include the step of distinguishing the screen into at least one area based on at least one bending area or at least one folding area, Detecting a first region of the at least one region in which the object is located; And controlling the movement of the object based on at least one of a slope of the first region and a friction force of a portion corresponding to the first region in the screen.

The method may further include receiving an input signal that determines a magnitude of a force and a force direction that are virtually applied to the object in the screen, and the step of controlling the object to move comprises: And controlling the moving of the object in the screen based on the information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing a method of operating a flexible device, the method comprising the steps of: at least one of a bending operation and a folding operation of the flexible device Detecting an operation; Determining appearance information of the flexible device modified by the at least one operation; And controlling to move an object in the screen displayed on the display unit of the flexible device based on the appearance information.

The present invention may be readily understood by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which reference numerals refer to structural elements.
1 is a view for explaining movement of an object in a screen according to a bending operation of a flexible device according to an embodiment.
2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a flexible device according to an embodiment.
3 is a flowchart showing a flow of a method of operating a flexible device according to an embodiment.
4 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation method of a flexible device according to another embodiment.
5 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation method of a flexible device according to another embodiment.
6 is a view for explaining a bending mode of a flexible device according to an embodiment.
7 is a view for explaining a sensor included in a flexible device according to an embodiment.
8 is a view for explaining the degree of bending of a flexible device according to an embodiment.
9 is a view for explaining the direction of a force acting on an object in a screen according to a bending form of the flexible device, according to an embodiment.
10A and 10B are views for explaining appearance information of a flexible device according to an embodiment.
11A and 11B are views for explaining the movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of a flexible device according to an embodiment.
12A and 12B are views for explaining the movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of a flexible device according to another embodiment.
13A and 13B are views for explaining movement of an object according to a frictional force in a screen according to an embodiment.
14A and 14B are views for explaining the movement of an object according to a frictional force in a screen according to an embodiment.
15 is a diagram for explaining a process of calculating a slope of each bending area of a flexible device according to an embodiment.
16 is a diagram for explaining a process of calculating a slope of each bending area of a flexible device according to another embodiment.
FIGS. 17A and 17B are views for explaining movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of a flexible device, according to an embodiment.
18A and 18B are views for explaining the movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of a flexible device according to another embodiment.
FIGS. 19A and 19B are views for explaining the movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of a flexible device, according to another embodiment.
20A and 20B are views for explaining the movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of a flexible device according to another embodiment.
21 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a flexible device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings The advantages and features of the present invention, and how to accomplish them, will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. To fully disclose the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

The terms used in this specification will be briefly described and the present invention will be described in detail.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Also, in certain cases, there may be a term selected arbitrarily by the applicant, in which case the meaning thereof will be described in detail in the description of the corresponding invention. Therefore, the term used in the present invention should be defined based on the meaning of the term, not on the name of a simple term, but on the entire contents of the present invention.

When an element is referred to as "including" an element throughout the specification, it is to be understood that the element may include other elements as well, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Also, as used herein, the term "part " refers to a hardware component such as software, FPGA or ASIC, and" part " However, 'minus' is not limited to software or hardware. The " part " may be configured to be in an addressable storage medium and configured to play back one or more processors. Thus, by way of example, and not limitation, "part (s) " refers to components such as software components, object oriented software components, class components and task components, and processes, Subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays and variables. The functions provided in the components and "parts " may be combined into a smaller number of components and" parts " or further separated into additional components and "parts ".

Throughout the specification, a "folding motion" or "bending motion" refers to a motion in which a flexible device or flexible display is folded or bent. Conversely, throughout this specification, the term "unfolding motion" or "unbending motion" refers to the movement of a flexible device or a flexible display. Details thereof will be described later.

In particular, the term "deforming" in the present specification means a state in which the external shape of the flexible device is changed, such as "folding (folding)" or "bending (bending) Thus, throughout this specification, the term "deforming" is intended to encompass all types of deformations such as "folding "," unfolding ", "bending "," unbending & ) "And the like.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts not related to the description will be omitted.

1 is a view for explaining movement of an object in a screen according to a bending operation of a flexible device according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a flexible device can be implemented as a device for various purposes. For example, the flexible device may be a mobile phone, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a tablet device, an electronic book device, a smart TV, a device for digital broadcasting, a PDA (personal digital assistant) Multimedia Player), navigation, and the like.

The flexible device includes a display which can be bent by an external force. That is, the flexible device includes a flexible display. The flexible display may include a foldable display that can be folded or unfolded at a specific angle or curvature, a bendable display that can be bent or extended at a specific curvature, a rollable (e.g., rollable display, and the like, in which the shape of the display can be deformed by an external force.

The flexible display has a display interfacing function for providing information processed in a flexible device or a user interface screen for information to be processed, as in an existing display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) display, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) display, . That is, the flexible display can display an execution screen of an application program, a lock screen, a background screen, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 1, the external shape of the flexible device is flat before external force acts. For example, a game application relating to motorcycle racing can be executed in a flexible device. In the flexible device, a screen of a game application relating to a motorcycle race can be displayed. Here, the flexible device provides a screen of the game application on a flat screen before the external appearance of the flexible device changes. When the external appearance of the flexible device is changed by the external force, the screen of the game application is provided on the bending screen in accordance with the changed appearance. The term "screen" in this specification means a screen displayed on the display unit of the flexible device. The "game application screen" or "game application screen" means a screen displayed on the display unit as a result of execution of the game application.

Referring to FIG. 1, the shape of the flexible device can be modified by the external force of the flexible device. Specifically, the flexible device can detect the bending operation using the bending sensor and determine the bending area.

The bending sensor means a sensor which can be bent by the bending sensor itself and has a resistance value that varies depending on the degree of bending. The band sensor can be implemented as a strain gauge. The strain gauge detects the deformation of the surface of the object to be measured according to the change of the resistance value by using a metal or semiconductor whose resistance varies greatly depending on the magnitude of applied force. In general, a material such as a metal has a resistance value that increases as the length increases with external force, and decreases when the length decreases. Therefore, when the change of the resistance value is sensed, it is possible to judge whether or not bending has been performed.

The bending sensor senses the resistance value of the band sensor using the magnitude of the applied voltage or the current flowing through the bending sensor and can detect the bending state at the position of the corresponding band sensor according to the magnitude of the resistance value.

Referring to FIG. 1, the flexible device has a bending region at the lower right portion due to external force. As used herein, the term "bending area" may refer to a bent area of the display portion of the flexible device. Since the bending sensor is bent together with the bending, the bending region can be seen at every point where the bending sensor outputs a resistance value different from that in the original state. The flexible device can detect the size of the bending region, the position of the bending region, the number of the bending region, the position of the bending line, the direction of the bending line, and the like based on the relationship between the points at which the change in resistance value is sensed.

Referring to FIG. 1, the flexible device can control the movement of objects in the screen based on the appearance information of the flexible device. Here, "appearance information" may mean type information in which a flexible device is modified by an external force. Specifically, the outline information may refer to a bending area and a degree of bending of the display unit of the flexible device, and may include elements obvious to those skilled in the art.

For example, when the flexible device is bent in the right direction, the flexible device can provide a visual effect that the motorcycle in the screen runs on an inclined plane inclined to the right. The more inclined the slope, the more flexible devices can provide a visual effect that the motorcycle moves to the right faster.

2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a flexible device according to an embodiment.

According to one embodiment, the flexible device 200 may include a sensor unit 210, a control unit 220, and a display unit 230. However, not all illustrated components are required. The flexible device 200 can be implemented by a larger number of components than the illustrated components, and the flexible device 200 can be implemented by fewer components. Hereinafter, the components will be described.

The sensor unit 210 can sense the bending operation of the flexible device 200. [ For example, the sensor unit 210 may include a bending sensor for sensing a bending input. In addition, various kinds of sensors other than the bending sensor may be combined with the bending sensor to obtain more specific information about the degree of bending of the device. Specifically, when the flexible device 200 is bent, the sensor unit 210 may sense the bending curvature indicating the degree of bending of the flexible device 200.

In addition, the sensor unit 210 can sense a folding operation or an unfolding operation of the flexible device 200. [ The "folding operation" in this specification may mean an operation in which the flexible device 200 changes its state from the folded state to the unfolded state. The "folding operation" may be an operation in which the flexible device 200 is folded by the folding axis. In addition, the flexible device 200 may have two or more folding axes. Here, the folding axis means a line that the flexible device 200 folds. For example, the flexible device 200 can be folded by the hinge means provided in the flexible device 200. On the other hand, when the flexible device 200 is symmetrically folded, the folding axis may be the middle line of the flexible device 200. On the other hand, when the flexible device 200 is asymmetrically folded, the folding axis may not be the middle line of the flexible device 200. [ The "unfolding operation" may mean an operation in which the flexible device 200 is changed from the unfolded state to the folded state. Also, the sensor unit 210 may detect a folding operation or an unfolding operation using a Hall sensor or a magnetic sensor provided in the folding structure.

The sensor unit 210 senses the degree of deformation of the flexible device 200. The sensor unit 210 can sense the deformation range of the flexible device 200 while the flexible device 200 is deformed. Since the display unit 230 is deformed into the same shape as the flexible device 200, the degree of deformation of the flexible device 200 may have the same meaning as the degree of deformation of the display unit 230. [

In addition, the sensor unit 210 may be provided on one surface of the display unit 230 and may be bent integrally with the display unit 230. The sensor unit 210 includes a plurality of sensors, and can detect deformation of the display unit 230 using a plurality of sensors.

The control unit 220 is a hardware configuration implemented by at least one processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an AP (application processor), and the like, and controls the overall operation of the flexible device 200.

The control unit 220 determines the appearance information of the flexible device 200 modified by at least one of a bending operation and a folding operation. The control unit 220 can control to move an object in the screen displayed on the display unit 230 based on the appearance information.

The control unit 220 can distinguish the screen into at least one area based on at least one bending area or at least one folding area. The control unit 220 may control to move the object based on the appearance information of at least one area.

On the other hand, the "appearance information" can represent the degree of deformation due to the deformation (for example, bending, folding, unbending, unfolding, etc.) of the flexible device 200 have. Specifically, the appearance information may include information for distinguishing the screen displayed on the flexible device 200 as at least one area based on the bending area or the folding area. Also, the appearance information may include at least one of a slope, a bending angle, a bending curvature, a folding angle, and a folding curvature for at least one area.

The control unit 220 can control the virtual force acting on the object in consideration of the physical force that the object can actually receive from the external shape of the flexible device 200. [ Here, the physical force may include gravity, frictional force, external force, and the like, but is not limited thereto. The virtual force on an object can be the force actually acting on the object, and can be determined by taking into account the magnitude and direction of the force actually acting on the object. For example, the virtual force can be determined by magnifying or reducing the actual force acting on the object according to a predetermined criterion. The direction of the actual force acting on the object can be matched to the direction of the imaginary force acting on the object.

The control unit 220 detects a first region in which at least one object on the screen is located and detects an object based on at least one of a slope of the first region and a friction force of a portion corresponding to the first region in the screen So that it can be controlled.

Specifically, the moving speed of the object moved by the control unit 220 in the first area is proportional to the slope of the first area, and may be inversely proportional to the frictional force of the part corresponding to the first area. Here, the inclination of the first region may mean the degree of inclination of the first region. If the slope of the first area is smaller than the slope of the second area, the controller 220 controls the movement of the object in the second area to be faster than the movement of the object in the first area.

Also, since the perimeter information of the object can be changed every time the object moves within the first area, the controller 220 can control the motion of the object in consideration of the surrounding information of the moving object. In addition, even if the object moves in the first area, the force acting on the object may be different according to the direction of movement of the object, so that the control unit 220 can control the movement of the object in consideration of the moving direction of the moving object . Here, the peripheral information of the object may include at least one of the size of the obstacle in the first area and the number of obstacles. Also, since the frictional force of the portion corresponding to the first region can be changed according to the movement of the object, the control unit 220 can control the movement of the object in consideration of the frictional force even in the same region.

The control unit 220 may control the display unit 230 to display a predetermined screen. The display unit 230 displays a predetermined screen so that a user can visually recognize a predetermined image or information.

The display unit 230 displays a predetermined screen. Specifically, the display unit 230 may display a predetermined screen under the control of the control unit 220. [ The display unit 230 includes a display panel, and can display a user interface screen or the like on the display panel.

The display unit 230 may include a substrate, a driver, a display panel, and a protective layer.

The display unit 230 may display an image on which the object moves based on the appearance information of the flexible device 200. The display unit 230 can display various information processed by the flexible device 200 on the screen through a GUI (Graphical User Interface).

Also, the display unit 230 can display a three-dimensional image on the screen. The control unit 220 can acquire an image in which the three-dimensional data corresponding to at least one area is changed as the outline information of at least one area is changed. In addition, the control unit 220 may control the moving object in the changed image. The display unit 230 may display a screen on which the object moves on the changed image.

The flexible device 200 may further include a user interface. The user interface means a device for receiving data for controlling the flexible device 200 from a user. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, a hardware configuration such as a keypad, a mouse, a touch panel, a touch screen, a trackball, a jog switch, and the like. The user interface may further include various input means such as a food recognition sensor, a gesture recognition sensor, a fingerprint recognition sensor, an iris recognition sensor, a depth sensor, and a distance sensor.

The user interface receives an input signal that determines the magnitude of the force and the direction of the force virtually applied to the object on the screen. The control unit 220 can move an object in the screen based on the input signal and the appearance information of the flexible device 200. [ Here, the input signal may include at least one of a touch signal and a drag-and-drop signal. Specifically, the touch signal may include, for example, at least one of a touch start time, a touch end time, a start position of a touch, and an end position of a touch.

The user interface can receive a predetermined command or data from the user through the user interface screen. More specifically, the user interface screen may receive an operation signal for moving an object by various input tools. The operation signal can be inputted by the touch input of the user. The user interface screen may receive a signal to move a displayed object on the screen by a user's hand or a physical tool with a drag and drop signal. The control unit 220 may move the object on the screen according to a signal for moving the object.

The user interface may generate and output a user interface screen for receiving a predetermined command or data from the user. For example, the user interface may generate a user interface screen in which the visual representation is dynamically changed according to the degree of bending sensed by the flexible device 200.

The flexible device 200 may further include a storage unit (not shown). The storage unit (not shown) may store physical values sensed by the sensor unit 210. Specifically, for example, the bending sensor calculates a difference between a resistance value at a point outputting the largest resistance value and a resistance value output at a point spaced a predetermined distance from the point. The control unit 220 can determine the degree of bending of the flexible device 200 using the calculated resistance value difference. The storage unit (not shown) may store the bending degree into a plurality of levels, and may store and store a resistance value having a predetermined range for each level. The control unit 220 can determine the degree of bending of the flexible device 200 according to a level belonging to the calculated resistance value difference among a plurality of levels stored in a storage unit (not shown). Here, the storage unit (not shown) may be implemented by various types of storage media such as a flash memory, a hard disk, and an EEPROM. In addition, the storage unit (not shown) may store the external information of the flexible device 200.

The flexible device 200 may further include a communication unit (not shown). The flexible device 200 can provide various contents through the application. The communication unit (not shown) can transmit the appearance information of the flexible device 200 to the server of the application. In addition, the server of the application can receive the appearance information and transmit the execution result reflecting the appearance information to the communication unit (not shown). In this case, the communication unit (not shown) can be connected to the application server through a communication network based on Wi-Fi (Wifi) or Wi-Fi direct (Wifi direct). Specifically, the wireless network to which the communication unit (not shown) can connect includes a wireless LAN, a wifi, a Bluetooth, a zigbee, a Wifi-direct, an ultra wideband (UWB) IrDA, Infrared Data Association), BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), NFC (Near Field Communication), and the like.

The flexible device 200 includes a central processing unit and can collectively control the operation of the sensor unit 210, the control unit 220, and the display unit 230. The central arithmetic processor may be implemented as an array of logic gates, or may be implemented as a combination of a general purpose microprocessor and a memory in which a program executable in the microprocessor is stored. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be implemented in other forms of hardware.

Hereinafter, various operations and applications performed by the flexible device 200 will be described. Even if the configuration of the sensor unit 210, the control unit 220, and the display unit 230 is not specified, The contents to be clearly understood and predicted by a person skilled in the art can be understood as a normal implementation, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by the name of the specific configuration or the physical / logical structure.

The following description of the "bending operation" of the flexible device 200 is not limited to the "bending operation", but may be applied to the "folding operation" of the flexible device 200 as well. Those skilled in the art will understand the present invention.

3 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation method of the flexible device 200 according to an embodiment.

In step S310 of FIG. 3, the flexible device 200 detects at least one of the bending operation and the folding operation of the flexible device 200. The flexible device 200 may sense the bending operation using the magnitude of the voltage applied to the bending sensor or the magnitude of the current flowing to the bending sensor. For example, the flexible device 200 senses the bending operation of the flexible device 200. Also, the flexible device 200 can sense the resistance value using the magnitude of the voltage and / or the current, and can detect the state of the bending region according to the magnitude of the resistance value.

In step S320, the flexible device 200 determines the appearance information of the flexible device 200 modified by at least one of the bending operation and the folding operation. As an example of determining the outline information of the flexible device 200, it may be determined as a flat area or a bending area with respect to a specific area of the flexible device 200. [ When the resistance value output from the bending sensor has a maximum value at a specific point and the resistance value output from the bending sensor decreases toward both directions, the flexed device 200 determines that the region where the maximum resistance value is detected is the bend- It can be judged. Further, the flexible device 200 can determine a region where the resistance value is not changed as a flat region where bending is not performed, and can determine a region where the resistance value is changed by a predetermined size or more to be a bending region where bending is even small.

In step S330, the flexible device 200 can control to move the object on the screen based on the appearance information. More specifically, the flexible device 200 can apply a virtual force to an object in the screen according to the degree of bending of the flexible device 200. When an object receives a virtual force, the object can be moved according to the magnitude and direction of the imaginary force. An object can be slowed down in motion before it receives a virtual force, and it can be accelerated in motion.

4 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation method of the flexible device 200 according to another embodiment.

In step S410 of Fig. 4, the flexible device 200 distinguishes at least one area displayed on the flexible device 200 based on at least one bending area or at least one folding area. Specifically, the bending area is defined as a bent area where the display unit 230 of the flexible device 200 is curved. Further, the bending region can be distinguished based on the relationship between the points at which the resistance value change is sensed. Specifically, when the distance between the points at which the resistance value change is detected is within the predetermined distance, the flexible device 200 can detect the points outputting the resistance value as one bending area. On the other hand, if there is a point where the distance between the points where the resistance value change is detected is distant from the predetermined distance or more, the flexible device 200 can sense the different bending areas on the basis of the spaced points .

In step S420, the flexible device 200 can detect a first area in which at least one of the areas is located. Specifically, since the area not including the object does not directly affect the movement of the object, the flexible device 200 can detect the first area in which the object is located among the different bending areas.

In step S430, the flexible device 200 can control to move the object in the screen based on at least one of the inclination and the frictional force of the first area. The flexible device 200 can control the movement of objects in the screen based on the inner elements of the screen and the outer elements of the screen. The inner elements of the screen may be frictional forces or obstacles in areas where objects within the screen move. The external element of the screen may be a form in which the shape of the flexible device 200 is changed by an external force. The flexible device 200 can control the movement of the object in the screen based on the inclination or the frictional force of the first area in which the object is located. Specifically, when the inclination of the first area and the inclination of the second area are different, the flexible device 200 can control the speed of the object in the first area and the speed of the object in the second area differently.

5 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation method of the flexible device 200 according to another embodiment.

In step S510 of FIG. 5, the flexible device 200 receives an input signal that determines the magnitude and direction of the force virtually applied to the object on the screen. The flexible device 200 can receive a virtual input signal applied to the object through the user interface. Here, the input signal may be a touch signal or a drag-and-drop signal. Drag refers to a touch gesture that moves a touch point from one position to another, and is a drag gesture that uses a drag method such as flick, sweep, swipe, pinch, It can include various gestures.

In step S520, the flexible device 200 controls the movement of the object in the screen based on the magnitude, direction, and appearance information of the force determined according to the input signal. The user interface can receive the touch input via the touch panel. The flexible device 200 can control the magnitude of the force virtually applied to the object to become larger as the duration of the touch input is longer. Also, the flexible device 200 can control the direction of the touch input in the direction of the force virtually applied to the object.

Further, the magnitude of the force determined according to the input signal can be determined based on the input start time and the input end time. The larger the difference between the input end time and the input start time, the more linear the magnitude of the force.

Further, the direction of the force determined in accordance with the input signal can be determined based on the input start position and the input end position. The vector is calculated using the input end position and the input start position, and the direction of the force can be determined.

In addition, the flexible device 200 can control the movement of objects in the screen based on the external information of the flexible device 200, in addition to the input signals input through the user interface. As a specific example, the speed of the object may be faster in the bending area than in the flat area.

In step S530, the flexible device 200 displays a screen including an image on which the object moves. The flexible device 200 can display a screen through the display unit 230 bent by an external force. In addition, the flexible device 200 can produce a lively visual effect by displaying an image for moving the object based on the appearance information.

6 is a view for explaining a bending mode of the flexible device 200 according to an embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 6, the flexible device 200 may be bent into various shapes 610, 620 630, 640, 650, 660, 670. The entire area of the display unit 230 of the flexible device 200 may be divided into a bending region where bending is sensed, a flat region where bending is not sensed, and a bending line. The bending line may be a line connecting different points that output the maximum value from the bending sensor. That is, the bending line may be a line connecting the points where the largest resistance value is detected in each bending area.

Bending can be done at various locations of the flexible device 200. Specifically, the bending can be made in an edge region, a vertex region, a central region, a diagonal region, and the like.

7 is a view for explaining a sensor included in the flexible device 200 according to an embodiment.

According to one embodiment, the flexible device 200 may be equipped with a plurality of sensors. The sensor may be embedded in the front surface of the display unit 230 or may be embedded in the rear surface of the display unit 230. The shape, number, and position of the sensor can also be varied. For example, one band sensor or a plurality of band sensors may be coupled to the display unit 230. Here, one band sensor can sense the bending data according to the bending operation. In addition, the plurality of band sensors sense a plurality of bending areas and can detect a deformation state of the device.

Referring to 710 of FIG. 7, the bending sensors may be positioned at left and right sides of the device at regular intervals. When the bending sensors are installed at regular intervals, the accuracy of detecting the degree of bending can be lowered compared with the case where the bending sensors are provided on the entire left and right sides of the device, but the efficiency can be increased in terms of cost.

7, the bending sensors may be located on the entire left and right sides of the device. By positioning the bending sensors on the entire left and right sides, the degree of bending can be accurately detected.

Referring to 730 of FIG. 7, the bending sensors may be positioned at left, right, upper, and lower sides at regular intervals. Referring to 740 of FIG. 7, the bending sensors may be located on the entire left, right, upper, and lower sides.

On the other hand, referring to 750 of FIG. 7, the bending sensors may be positioned at regular intervals on the sides of the device. When the bending sensor is disposed on the side surface of the device, space utilization of the device can be increased.

Further, the bending sensor may be disposed on the side surface, and another sensor may be disposed on the front surface or the rear surface of the device. Specifically, when the touch sensor is disposed on the front surface of the device and the bending sensor is disposed on the side surface, the user can select the object using the touch sensor. The flexible device can detect the bending angle and the bending curvature It is possible to control to display a screen corresponding to the information.

In addition, the bending sensor may be located on the entire side of the device. The degree of bending can be accurately detected by installing a bending sensor on the entire side surface of the device.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a bending sensor can be arranged in other ways than the example shown in FIG. For example, a plurality of bar-shaped bending sensors may be arranged in the lateral and longitudinal directions to form a lattice. In this case, the plurality of bar-shaped bending sensors may be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance.

Also, the number of the bending sensors may be changed according to the size of the display unit 230 of the flexible device 200, and the like. In addition, since the bending sensors are disposed in the horizontal and vertical directions to sense bending in the entire display unit 230, in the case of a device having a flexible characteristic only for a part or a bending detection for only a part of the device, The bending sensor may be disposed only at the corresponding portion.

In addition, the bending sensor can be realized in the form of an electric resistance sensor using an electric resistance or a micro fiber sensor using a strain of an optical fiber.

8 is a view for explaining the degree of bending of the flexible device 200 according to an embodiment.

Referring to 810 of FIG. 8, the bending sensor can sense bending curvature. For example, a bending sensor can detect bending curvatures from +180 degrees to -180 degrees. Also, referring to 820 of FIG. 8, a plurality of bending sensors may be disposed at predetermined intervals, and each bending sensor may sense bending curvature.

Also, the bending sensor can determine the extent to which the display unit 230 is bent by using a change in the magnitude of the resistance value output at regular intervals. The flexible device 200 can divide the degree of bending into a plurality of levels and match the resistance value having a constant range for each level. For example, the degree of bending can be determined based on the resistance value output at the first point outputting the largest resistance value from the bending sensor and the resistance value difference output at the second point separated by the predetermined distance.

The flexible device 200 may determine the level to which the calculated resistance value difference belongs among the plurality of levels and determine the degree of bending corresponding to the confirmed level. On the other hand, the degree of bending may be expressed by a bending angle, a bending strength, or a pressure strength.

9 is a view for explaining the direction of a force acting on an object in a screen according to a bending form of the flexible device 200 according to an embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 9, the user can modify the flexible device 200. The flexible device 200 can be modified into various forms by the external force of the user. If there is no external force, the flexible device 200 maintains a flat shape.

Referring to 910 in Fig. 9, the flexible device 200 is deformed downwardly convexly by an external force. When the flexible device 200 is deformed downward convexly, an object located at an arbitrary position within the screen of the flexible device 200 is subjected to a force toward the bending area. For example, assume that there is a ball on the screen. If the ball does not receive the force, it does not move on a flat surface. However, on the inclined plane, the ball moves because it receives a force in the direction of gravity. When the flexible device 200 is deformed downward convexly, the ball moves to the convex side downward.

Referring to 920 of FIG. 9, the flexible device 200 is deformed upwardly convexly by an external force. When the flexible device 200 is convexly deformed, an object positioned at an arbitrary position within the screen of the flexible device 200 receives a downward force with respect to the bending area. As a specific example, when the ball is positioned in the bending zone, the ball moves downward and receives force.

Referring to 930 of FIG. 9, the flexible device 200 is modified so that the left side is inclined by an external force. The left side has a sloping side and the right side has a flat side with the bending area as the center. An object located at an arbitrary position within the screen of the flexible device 200 receives a force in the lower right direction with respect to the bending area. As a specific example, when a ball is placed in the bending area, the ball moves from left to right.

10A and 10B are views for explaining appearance information of the flexible device 200 according to an embodiment.

According to one embodiment, the flexible device 200 may be modified as shown in FIG. 10A by an external force. The flexible device 200 can sense the bending area or the folding area by the sensor unit 210. [ The flexible device 200 can distinguish the screen of the flexible device 200 into at least one area based on at least one bending area or at least one folding area.

Referring to FIG. 10A, the flexible device 200 deformed by an external force can be divided into three regions 1001, 1002, and 1003. FIG. The three regions may be divided into a first region 1001, a second region 1002, and a third region 1003. There are boundary lines 1011 and 1012 for dividing the three regions.

Specifically, the flexible device 200 can calculate the degree of tilt with respect to the first region, the second region, and the third region using the gyro sensor and the bending sensor. The gyro sensor can sense the inclination of the flexible device 200 and the bending sensor can sense the pressure intensity against the bending area of the flexible device 200. [

As shown in FIG. 10A, the gyro sensor senses the slope of the first region as zero. The bending sensor senses the bending direction corresponding to the bending or out bending. The bending sensor senses the bending direction of the second region in the first region as out-bent, and senses the pressure strength as 30. Further, the bending sensor senses the bending direction of the third region in the second region as in-bending, and senses the input intensity as 30. The flexible device 200 determines that the first area is a flat area and the second area is an inclined area inclined by 30 degrees from the upper left to the lower right and the third area is determined as a flat area.

Referring to FIG. 10B, the flexible device 200 deformed by an external force may be divided into three regions 1004, 1005, and 1006. The three regions may be divided into a fourth region, a fifth region, and a sixth region. There are boundary lines 1021 and 1022 for separating the three regions.

As shown in FIG. 10B, the gyro sensor senses the slope of the fourth region as zero. The bending sensor senses the bending direction of the fifth region in the fourth region by in-bending, and senses the pressure strength as 30. Further, the bending sensor senses the bending direction of the sixth region in the fifth region as out-bent, and senses the pressure intensity as 30. The flexible device 200 determines that the fourth area is a flat area and the fifth area is an inclined area inclined by 30 degrees from the lower left to the right and the sixth area is determined as a flat area.

10A and 10B, the area of the flexible device 200 deformed by the external force is divided into three areas. However, since the bending area is different from the outbending area, the direction of the inclined area is different. The flexible device 200 may determine the inclination with respect to the inclined area by judging whether the bent or out bent is performed in the bending area. The flexible device 200 can move the object on the screen based on the external information of the flexible device 200 deformed by the external force.

11A and 11B are views for explaining the movement of an object in a screen according to the bending degree of the flexible device 200 according to an embodiment.

The degree of bending of the flexible device 200 shown in Fig. 11A differs from the degree of bending of the flexible device 200 shown in Fig. 11B. The slope of the flexible device 200 shown in Fig. 11A is not steeper than the slope of the flexible device 200 shown in Fig. 11B. The flexible device 200 can move an object in the screen by reflecting the appearance information of the flexible device 200. [ Therefore, when a ball is placed at the same position, the distance descending at the same time varies depending on the slope.

When the object exists in the first area on the screen of the flexible device 200, the flexible device 200 can move the object in proportion to the slope of the first area. When the inclination of the first area and the inclination of the second area are different, the flexible device 200 can control the speed of the object in the first area and the speed of the object in the second area differently. Specifically, when the slope of the first area is smaller than the slope of the second area, the flexible device 200 can control the object to move faster in the second area than in the first area.

Specifically, as shown in Figs. 11A and 11B, the screen inclination of Fig. 11A is smaller than the screen inclination of Fig. 11B. In the case of FIG. 11A, the ball is located at point 1102, and in the case of FIG. 11B, the ball is at point 1103 when the ball is placed at point 1101 at the same time and a certain time has elapsed. The flexible device 200 can actually reflect the appearance information of the flexible device 200 to the motion of the blank. 11A and 11B illustrate the motion of the ball on the screen, it is to be appreciated that other objects on the screen may also be moved based on the appearance information of the flexible device 200, .

12A and 12B are views for explaining the movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of the flexible device 200 according to another embodiment.

The flexible device 200 may include a user interface, which is integrally provided with the display unit 230 and is configured as a touch panel for sensing a touch input. Through the user interface, the user can input a touch signal for operating an object in the screen.

The user interface may receive an input signal that determines the magnitude of the force and the direction of the force virtually applied to the object within the screen. As shown in FIG. 12A, the user can input a touch signal to move the ball from the right to the left at the point 1201. FIG. The flexible device 200 can determine the magnitude of the force and the direction of the force virtually applied to the object in consideration of the input time of the touch signal and the input direction of the touch signal on the screen. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the magnitude of the force and the direction of the force that are virtually applied to the object can be determined by other factors than the above-mentioned elements.

As shown in Figs. 12A and 12B, the screen inclination of Fig. 12A is smaller than the screen inclination of Fig. 12B. It is assumed that the ball is placed at point 1201 at the same time and the user interface has received the same touch input. When a predetermined time has passed, the ball is positioned at the point 1202 in the case of Fig. 12A, and the ball is located at the point 1203 in the case of Fig. 12B.

12A and 12B illustrate that the same touch input is received on the screen in the state where the external shape information of the flexible device 200 is different from each other. However, the size of the virtual force applied to the ball due to the touch input input in FIG. The point 1203 in Figure 12B may be at the same height or at a higher height than the point 1202 in Figure 12A. Specifically, the magnitude of the virtual force applied to the ball may be determined in proportion to the difference between the input start time and the input end time. Therefore, if the time of the touch input in Fig. 12B is longer than the time of the touch input in Fig. 12A, the point 1203 in Fig. 12B may be the same height as the point 1202 in Fig. .

13A and 13B are views for explaining movement of an object according to a friction force in a screen according to an embodiment.

An object in the screen of the flexible device 200 may be included in the first area. The object can be moved based on the appearance information of the flexible device 200. [ Further, the moving speed of the object may be inversely proportional to the frictional force of the portion corresponding to the first area. For example, when the friction force of a portion corresponding to an area where an object moves in the screen is large, a great deal of force is required to move the object. Therefore, when the same force is applied to the object, the object moves more and the moving speed is faster in a region where the frictional force is small.

13A and 13B, the external shape of the flexible device 200 is the same. However, the frictional force of the portion corresponding to the moving region of the object on the screen is different. Since the frictional force is different, the arrival point is different even if the ball starts from the point 1301 at the same position and at the same time.

13A, since the frictional force does not exist in the region where the ball moves, the ball moves only considering the outer shape of the flexible device 200 itself. The ball arrives at point 1302 after time t1 elapses from point 1301. On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 13B, since the frictional force exists in the region where the ball moves, the ball moves in consideration of the external shape and the frictional force of the flexible device 200. The ball starts from the point 1301 and reaches the point 1303 after t1 time. The ball in FIG. 13B takes more time than the time t1 and reaches point 1302.

In addition, the object in the screen of the flexible device 200 can be moved based on at least one of the peripheral information of the moving object and the moving direction of the object. Here, the peripheral information may include the size of the obstacle or the number of obstacles in the area in which the object moves. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the peripheral information may include all information about a factor that may affect the movement of an object in a screen.

As shown in FIG. 13B, the frictional force on the screen may be different for each region in which the object moves. In addition, the size of the obstacle obstructing the movement of the object may be different depending on the area in which the object moves. An object can take a lot of time to travel over the same distance as the frictional force is greater or the size of the obstruction is greater.

14A and 14B are views for explaining movement of an object according to a friction force in a screen according to an embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the bending area and bending degree of the flexible device 200 are the same, but the frictional force and the number of obstacles in the part corresponding to the area in which the object moves in the screen are different.

Referring to FIG. 14A, the ball in the screen can be moved based on the gradient with respect to the region where the ball is located. If the ball is in a flat position, the ball will not move unless it is subjected to force. Since the ball is located in a sloping region, the ball can be moved up and down under the influence of the slope. In this case, if there is no frictional force in the tilted region, the ball will only be affected by the tilt.

On the other hand, referring to FIG. 14B, there is a frictional force in the inclined region. Also, since the tilted region does not have the same frictional force, the magnitude of the force received while the ball is moving can continue to change. Since frictional forces reduce the velocity size of the ball, it may take more time to reach the same distance than in the absence of frictional forces.

14A and 14B, it is assumed that the ball starts at the same point 1401 and t1 has elapsed. In the case of non-frictional areas, the ball reaches point 1402 and in the case of frictional areas the ball reaches point 1403. The flexible device 200 can move an object on the screen based on the external information of the flexible device 200 and information on the screen. Here, the information in the screen includes the friction force in the screen, the size of the obstacle, the number of obstacles, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

15 is a diagram for explaining a process of calculating a slope of each bending area of the flexible device 200 according to an embodiment.

The flexible device 200 can be bent by an external force. The shape that can be bent varies as described in Fig. The bent shape of the flexible device 200 can be divided into in-bending or out-bending. As shown in Fig. 15, the bending region 1501 is out-bent, and the bending region 1502 is in-bend.

As shown in FIG. 15, the flexible device 200 may include a plurality of sensors. The plurality of sensors may correspond to at least one of a geomagnetism sensor, a gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor, a touch sensor, a band sensor, a pressure sensor, a proximity sensor, and a grip sensor. Specifically, the gyro sensor can sense the degree of tilting of the flexible device 200. The bending sensor may sense the direction of the force and the degree of tilting of the flexible device 200 by sensing the intensity of the pressure applied to the flexible device 200.

Referring to 1510 of FIG. 15, the sensor unit 210 can determine the degree of tilting of the flexible device 200 using a three-dimensional coordinate system. Specifically, if the x-axis value is 0, the area 1513 can be determined as a flat area because the vertical drag and the gravity acting on the object are the same in the area 1513. Further, since the bending area 1511 is out-bent, it can be determined that the direction of the force acting on the object is inclined downward to the right. When the pressure intensity is 80, the slope of the area 1514 can be judged to be 80. [ Since the bending area 1512 is in bending, it can be determined that the direction of the force acting on the object is inclined to the right. When the pressure intensity is 80, the slope of the region 1515 can be judged as zero.

15, if the x-axis value is 0, the region 1523 can be determined as a flat region because the vertical drag and the gravity acting on the object in the region 1523 are the same. Also, since the bending area 1521 is out-bent, it can be determined that the direction of the force acting on the object is inclined downward to the right. If the pressure intensity is 40, the slope of the region 1524 can be judged to be 40. [ Since the bending area 1522 is in bending, it can be determined that the direction of the force acting on the object is inclined to the right. When the pressure intensity is 40, the slope of the area 1525 can be judged as zero.

Similarly, referring to 1530 of FIG. 15, when the x-axis value is -20 and the pressure intensity of the bending areas 1531 and 1532 is 40, the area 1533 can be judged to be tilted 20 to the right, The region 1534 may be determined to be tilted to the right 60 and the region 1535 may be determined to be tilted 20 to the right.

16 is a diagram for explaining a process of calculating a slope of each bending area of the flexible device 200 according to another embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 16, the flexible device 200 has a bending area due to an external force. The bending regions 1601 and 1602 may be out-bent.

16, when the x-axis value is +80 and the pressure intensity of the bending areas 1611 and 1612 is 80, the area 1613 can be judged to be tilted to the left by 80, 1614 may be determined to be 0, and the region 1615 may be determined to be tilted to the right by 80. [

16, when the x-axis value is +80, the pressure intensity of the bending region 1621 is 120, and the pressure intensity of the bending region 1622 is 40, the region 1623 is inclined to the left by 80 The region 1624 can be judged to be tilted to the right 40 and the region 1625 can be judged to be tilted to the right 80. [

FIGS. 17A and 17B are views for explaining the movement of objects in a screen according to the degree of bending of the flexible device 200, according to an embodiment.

Referring to Figs. 17A and 17B, there is shown an outline of the flexible device 200 having a different degree of deformation due to an external force. The height of the tower shown in Fig. 17A is higher than the height of the tower shown in Fig. 17B. When the object is dropped from the top of the tower in the screen, the flexible device 200 determines that the falling time of the falling object in the tower of FIG. 17A is longer than the falling time of the falling object in the tower of FIG. 17B, It can provide a visual effect.

18 is a view for explaining the movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of the flexible device 200 according to another embodiment.

According to one embodiment, a user may run a bicycle racing game application at the flexible device 200. [ When the flexible device 200 is bent, the user can enjoy a more realistic game if the strength of the bike in the game screen executed by the application differs according to the degree of bending. Depending on the degree of bending and / or bending direction and / or bending point, the force the bicycle receives in the game may be different. The speed at which a bike moves on an uphill or downhill road may vary depending on the slope of the slope.

Referring to 1810 of FIG. 18A, the sensor unit 210 can sense angular information of a three-dimensional coordinate system by accumulating angular velocity values at predetermined time intervals, and can detect a bending region. Referring to FIG. 18A, reference numeral 1801 denotes that the sensor unit 210 senses that a slope has been formed from the upper left to the lower right, and can detect that there is a bending region at the lower right. On the bicycle in the screen of the flexible device 200, a frictional force is applied to the lower right side to ascend to the upper left of the screen based on the appearance information and the information in the game screen to be executed. That is, the flexible device 200 can provide a visual effect that the longer the slope is, the longer it takes for the bicycle to reach the same distance.

Referring to 1820 of FIG. 18B, the sensor unit 210 can sense the angular information of the three-dimensional coordinate system by accumulating the angular velocity values at predetermined time intervals, and detect the bending region. Referring to 1802 of FIG. 18, the sensor unit 210 senses that a slope is formed from the lower left to the upper right, and can detect that there is a bending area at the lower left. On the bicycle in the screen of the flexible device 200, based on the information in the appearance information and the game screen to be executed, frictional force acts on the bicycle in the lower left direction to move up to the right side of the screen.

If there is a bending in the lower left corner and the x axis value is positive, the flexible device 200 can be judged to be tilted to the left, and the larger the positive value, the greater the left tilt can be judged to be. The flexible device 200 can provide a visual effect of moving the bicycle to the left side of the screen based on the appearance information and the information in the game screen to be executed. In addition, the flexible device 200 can provide a visual effect of moving the bicycle to the left faster as the left slope is larger.

FIGS. 19A and 19B are views for explaining movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of the flexible device 200, according to another embodiment.

According to one embodiment, the background screen on the screen of the flexible device 200 can be set as an image with a low waterfall number. Referring to FIGS. 19A and 19B, the slope of the area 1910 of the flexible device 200 is steeper than the slope of the area 1920. In the natural environment, the waterfall flow in steeply steep regions flows faster in the waterfall flow in the less steep regions. Similarly, the flexible device 200 can control the motion of the object in consideration of the inclination of the flexible device 200. The flexible device 200 is capable of providing a visual effect such that the waterfall flow in the region 1910 is faster and brighter than the waterfall flow in the region 1920 because the slope of the region 1910 is steeper than the slope of the region 1920. [ Can be provided.

20A and 20B are views for explaining movement of an object in a screen according to the degree of bending of the flexible device 200 according to another embodiment.

According to one embodiment, in the flexible device 200, a user can execute an application related to a game that falls on a waterfall. The user can change the external shape of the flexible device 200 by applying an external force to the flexible device 200. [ The flexible device 200 can control the waterfall number to flow based on the modified appearance information. The user can input a signal to operate a character descending the waterfall through the user interface. For example, a user can input a touch signal using a touch panel that detects a touch input.

20A and 20B, the slope of the area 1910 of the flexible device 200 is steeper than the slope of the area 1920. [ When the same operation signal is input to the character on the screen, the flexible device 200 determines that the distance of the character falls down in the area 1910 in the area 1920 rather than the distance that the character falls down in the waterfall in the area 1920, Motion can be controlled.

21 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a flexible device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

21, the flexible display device 100 includes a display unit 110, a sensing unit 120, a control unit 130, a storage unit 140, an audio processing unit 150, a video processing unit 155, A GPS reception unit 165, a DMB reception unit 166, a graphic processing unit 170, a power supply unit 180, a speaker 185, a button 191, a USB port 192, a camera 193, a microphone 194 ).

The display unit 110 may include a substrate, a driver, a display panel, and a protective layer. Here, the substrate can be embodied as a plastic substrate (for example, a polymer film) that can be deformed by external pressure. Specifically, the plastic substrate has a structure in which a barrier coating is performed on both sides of a base film. In the case of the base material, it can be realized by various resins such as PI (Polyimide), PC (Polycarbonate), PET (Polyethyleneterephtalate), PES (Polyethersulfone), PEN (Polysilene Epthalate) and FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastic). Further, the barrier coating is performed on the surfaces facing each other in the base material, and an organic film or an inorganic film may be used to maintain flexibility. In addition, the substrate can be used as a material having a flexible property such as a thin glass or a metal foil.

The driving unit of the display unit 110 drives the display unit. Specifically, the driving unit applies a driving voltage to a plurality of pixels constituting the display unit, and may be implemented as an a-si TFT, a low temperature poly silicon (LTPS) TFT, an OTFT (organic TFT), or the like. The driving unit may be implemented in various forms according to the implementation mode of the display panel. For example, the display panel may comprise an organic light-emitting element composed of a plurality of pixel cells and an electrode layer covering both sides of the organic light-emitting element. In this case, the driving unit may include a plurality of transistors corresponding to each pixel cell of the display panel. The control unit applies an electric signal to the gates of the respective transistors to emit the pixel cells connected to the transistors. Accordingly, an image can be displayed.

In addition to the organic light emitting diode, the display panel may be implemented as an EL, an electrophoretic display (EPD), an electrochromic display (ECD), a liquid crystal display (LCD), or an AMLCD. However, in the case of an LCD, a separate backlight is required because it can not emit light by itself. For LCDs where no backlight is used, ambient light is used. Therefore, in order to use an LCD display panel without a backlight, conditions such as an outdoor environment with high light intensity must be satisfied.

The protective layer functions to protect the display panel. For example, materials such as ZrO 2, CeO 2, and Th 2 O 2 may be used for the protective layer. The protective layer may be formed in the form of a transparent film to cover the entire surface of the display panel.

Meanwhile, when the display unit 110 is made of a transparent material, the display unit 110 can be realized as a display device having bending properties and transparency. For example, the substrate may be made of a polymer material such as plastic having a transparent property, and may have transparency when the driving unit is implemented as a transparent transistor and the display panel is implemented as a transparent organic light emitting layer and a transparent electrode.

The sensing unit 120 can detect various user operations such as touch, rotation, movement, inclination, pressure, and the like as well as the shape change of the flexible display device 100. The control unit 130 may control the operation of the flexible display device 100 using various user operations sensed by the sensing unit 120.

21, the sensing unit 120 includes a geomagnetic sensor 121, a gyro sensor 122, an acceleration sensor 123, a touch sensor 124, a bending sensor 125, a pressure sensor 126, 127, and a grip sensor 128.

The geomagnetic sensor 121 is a sensor for sensing the rotation state, the moving direction, and the like of the flexible display device 100.

The gyro sensor 122 is a sensor for sensing the rotation angle of the flexible display device 100. Although both the geomagnetic sensor 121 and the gyro sensor 122 may be provided, the flexible display device 100 can sense the rotation state even if only one of the geomagnetic sensor 121 and the gyro sensor 122 is provided.

The acceleration sensor 123 is a sensor for detecting the degree of inclination of the flexible display device 100. The geomagnetic sensor 121, the gyro sensor 122, the acceleration sensor 123 and the like may be used for detecting bending characteristics such as a bending direction and a bending area of the flexible display device 100 as described above.

The touch sensor 124 may be implemented as an electrostatic or a pressure sensitive type. The electrostatic type is a method of calculating the touch coordinates by sensing the minute electricity that is excited by the user's body when a part of the user's body is touched to the surface of the display unit 110 by using a dielectric coated on the surface of the display unit 110. [ The depressurization type includes two electrode plates, and when the user touches the screen, the top and bottom plates of the touched point contact with each other to sense current flow, and the touch coordinates are calculated. As described above, the touch sensor 124 can be implemented in various forms.

The bending sensor 125 may be implemented in various shapes and numbers as described above to detect the bending state of the flexible display device 100. Since various examples of the structure and operation of the bending sensor 125 have been described above, redundant description will be omitted.

The pressure sensor 126 senses the magnitude of the pressure applied to the flexible display device 100 when the user performs a touch or a bending operation and provides the sensed pressure to the control unit 130. The pressure sensor 126 may include a piezo film that is built in the display unit 110 and outputs an electric signal corresponding to the magnitude of the pressure.

Although the touch sensor 124 and the pressure sensor 126 are shown as being separate in Fig. 21, when the touch sensor 124 is implemented as a pressure sensitive touch sensor, the pressure sensitive type touch sensor functions also as the pressure sensor 126 You may.

The proximity sensor 127 is a sensor for sensing the approaching motion without directly contacting the display surface. The proximity sensor 127 is a high frequency oscillation type that forms a high frequency magnetic field and senses a current induced by a magnetic field characteristic that changes when approaching an object, a magnetic type that uses a magnet, Capacitive type, and the like.

The grip sensor 128 is disposed at the rim or the handle of the flexible display device 100 separately from the pressure sensor 126 and detects a user's grip. The grip sensor 128 may be implemented as a pressure sensor or a touch sensor.

The control unit 130 analyzes various sensing signals sensed by the sensing unit 120, grasps the intention of the user, and performs an operation corresponding to the intent of the user. In particular, the control unit 130 can selectively perform the functions assigned to the respective gestures by separately recognizing the bending and flat gestures and the bending and holding gestures.

In addition, the control unit 130 may perform a control operation according to various input methods such as a touch operation other than the bending gesture, a motion input, a voice input, a button input, and the like. The touch operation may include various operations such as simple touch, tap, touch and hold, move, flick, drag and drop, pinch-in, and pinch-out.

The control unit 130 may execute an application stored in the storage unit 140 to configure and display the execution screen, or may play back various contents stored in the storage unit 140. Also, the controller 130 may communicate with external devices through the communication unit 160. [

The communication unit 160 is configured to perform communication with various types of external devices according to various types of communication methods. The communication unit 160 includes various communication chips such as a Wi-Fi chip 161, a Bluetooth chip 162, an NFC chip 163, a wireless communication chip 164, and the like.

The Wi-Fi chip 161, the Bluetooth chip 162, and the NFC chip 163 perform communication using the WiFi method, the Bluetooth method, and the NFC method, respectively. Among these, the NFC chip 163 means a chip operating in the NFC (Near Field Communication) mode using the 13.56 MHz band among various RF-ID frequency bands such as 135 kHz, 13.56 MHz, 433 MHz, 860 to 960 MHz and 2.45 GHz do.

When the WiFi chip 111 or the Bluetooth chip 112 is used, various connection information such as an SSID and a session key may be transmitted and received first, and communication information may be used to transmit and receive various information. The wireless communication chip 164 refers to a chip that performs communication according to various communication standards such as IEEE, ZigBee, 3G (3rd Generation), 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), LTE (Long Term Evolution)

The GPS receiving unit 165 is a component for receiving the GPS signal from the GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite and calculating the current position of the flexible display device 100. [

The DMB receiving unit 166 is a component for receiving and processing a DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) signal.

The graphic processing unit 170 generates a screen including various objects such as an icon, an image, and a text using an operation unit (not shown) and a rendering unit (not shown). The operation unit calculates an attribute value such as a coordinate value, a shape, a size, and a color to be displayed by each object according to the layout of the screen. The rendering unit generates screens of various layouts including the objects based on the attribute values calculated by the operation unit. The screen generated by the rendering unit is displayed in the display area of the display unit 110.

The power supply unit 180 is a component that supplies power to the respective components of the flexible display device 100. The power supply unit 180 may include a positive electrode collector, a positive electrode, an electrolyte, a negative electrode, a negative electrode collector, and a covering portion covering the same. The power supply unit 180 is implemented as a rechargeable secondary battery. The power supply unit 180 may be embodied in a flexible form so as to be bent together with the flexible display device 100. In this case, the current collector, the electrode, the electrolyte, the coating and the like may be made of a material having a flexible property. The specific shape and material of the power supply unit 180 will be separately described later.

The audio processing unit 150 is a component that performs processing on audio data. In the audio processing unit 150, various processes such as decoding, amplification, noise filtering, and so on of audio data can be performed.

The video processing unit 155 is a component that performs processing on video data. The video processing unit 155 can perform various image processing such as decoding, scaling, noise filtering, frame rate conversion, resolution conversion, and the like on the video data.

The audio processing unit 150 and the video processing unit 155 are used for processing and reproducing multimedia contents, DMB broadcasting signals, and the like.

The display unit 110 displays a video frame processed by the video processing unit 155, a screen generated by the graphic processing unit 170, and the like.

The speaker 185 is a component for outputting various kinds of audio data processed by the audio processing unit 150, as well as various kinds of notification sounds and voice messages.

The buttons 191 may be various types of buttons such as a mechanical button, a touch pad, a wheel, and the like formed in an arbitrary area such as a front surface portion, a side surface portion, and a back surface portion of the outer surface of the body of the flexible display device 100.

The USB port 192 can communicate with various external devices via a USB cable.

The camera 193 is a structure for capturing a still image or a moving image under the control of the user.

The microphone 194 is a configuration for receiving a user voice or other sound and converting it into audio data. The control unit 130 may use the user's voice input through the microphone 194 during a call or convert the user's voice into audio data and store the audio data in the storage unit 140.

When the camera 193 and the microphone 194 are provided, the control unit 130 may perform a control operation according to the user's voice inputted through the microphone 194 or the user's motion recognized by the camera 193. [ That is, the flexible display device 100 can be operated in a motion control mode or a voice control mode in addition to being controlled by shape modification or touch. When operating in the motion control mode, the control unit 130 activates the camera 193 to pick up a user, tracks the motion change of the user, and performs a corresponding control operation. When operating in the voice control mode, the control unit 130 may operate in a voice recognition mode for analyzing a user voice input through a microphone and performing a control operation according to the analyzed user voice.

In addition, various external input ports for connecting with various external terminals such as a headset, a mouse, a LAN, and the like may be further included.

The operation of the control unit 130 may be performed by a program stored in the storage unit 140. The storage unit 140 stores O / S (Operating System) software for driving the flexible display device 100, a variety of applications, various data inputted or set during the execution of the application, content, bending gesture, Data can be stored.

For example, the storage unit 140 may store software including a sensing module (not shown), a communication module 143, a presentation module (not shown), or a service module (not shown).

For example, the sensing module (not shown) collects information from various sensors included in the sensing unit 120, and analyzes and manages the collected information. Specifically, it is a program module that performs an operation of detecting an operation attribute such as a coordinate value of a touch point, a touch movement direction, a movement speed, a movement distance, and the like. In addition, in some cases, the sensing module (not shown) may include a face recognition module, a voice recognition module, a motion recognition module, an NFC recognition module, and the like.

A presentation module (not shown) is a module for constituting a display screen. The presentation module (not shown) includes a multimedia module 144-1 for reproducing and outputting multimedia contents, a UI, and a UI rendering module 144-2 for performing graphics processing. The multimedia module 144-1 may include a player module, a camcorder module, a sound processing module, and the like. Accordingly, various multimedia contents are reproduced, and a screen and sound are generated and reproduced. The UI rendering module 144-2 includes an image compositor module for combining images, a coordinate combination module for generating coordinates by combining coordinates on a screen for displaying an image, an X11 module for receiving various events from hardware, A 2D / 3D UI toolkit that provides a tool for constructing a UI of the form, and the like.

A service module (not shown) is a module that includes various applications for providing a service matched with the operation contents when a shape change state or various other user operations are performed. Specifically, the service module (not shown) may include various program modules such as a navigation program, a content reproduction program, a game program, an electronic book program, a calendar program, an alarm management program, Each of these program modules may be used to match a variety of geometric deformations, such as bending and flex gestures, bending and holding gestures, and the like.

The controller 130 controls the overall operation of the flexible display device 100 using various programs stored in the storage unit 140. [

The control unit 130 includes a RAM 131, a ROM 132, a timer 133, a main CPU 134, first through n interfaces 135-1 through 135-n,

The RAM 131, the ROM 132, the timer 133, the main CPU 134, the first to n interfaces 135-1 to 135-n, etc. may be connected to each other via the bus 136. [

The first to n-th interfaces 135-1 to 135-n are connected to the various components described above. One of the interfaces may be a network interface connected to an external device via a network.

The main CPU 134 accesses the storage unit 140 and performs booting using the O / S stored in the storage unit 140. [ Various operations are performed using various programs, contents, data, and the like stored in the storage unit 140.

The ROM 132 stores a command set for booting the system and the like. When the turn-on command is input and power is supplied, the main CPU 134 copies the O / S stored in the storage unit 140 to the RAM 131 according to the instruction stored in the ROM 132, executes O / S Boot the system. When the booting is completed, the main CPU 134 copies various application programs stored in the storage unit 140 to the RAM 131, executes the application programs copied to the RAM 131, and performs various operations.

When the detection signal corresponding to the shape-deformed state is received by the sensing unit 120, the main CPU 134 determines whether the operation at that time, such as an application or function that was being executed or a screen layout displayed at that time, And stores various related information in the storage unit 140. Then, whether or not the detection signal changes is monitored. The main CPU 134 can count the time by controlling the timer 133 when the change of the detection signal is stopped. Accordingly, when the predetermined time has elapsed without the detection signal being changed, the main CPU 134 judges that the presently-made gesture is a bending-and-holding gesture. On the other hand, when the sensing signal is maintained or changes continuously for less than a predetermined time, the main CPU 134 confirms whether the feature of the shape-deformed state matches predetermined information. Accordingly, it is possible to judge whether or not bending and flat gestures and other general bending, folding, rolling, and the like have occurred.

When the determination is completed, the main CPU 134 confirms the information on the function matched to the gesture from the storage unit 140, loads the application for performing the function into the RAM 131, have.

FIG. 21 illustrates various components in a flexible display device as an example of a device having various functions such as a communication function, a broadcast reception function, a moving picture playback function, and the like. Therefore, depending on the embodiment, some of the constituent elements shown in Fig. 21 may be omitted or changed, and other constituent elements may be further added.

Meanwhile, as described above, the control unit 130 can execute a program stored in the storage unit 140 and perform various operations.

The apparatus described above may be implemented as a hardware component, a software component, and / or a combination of hardware components and software components. For example, the apparatus and components described in the embodiments may be implemented within a computer system, such as, for example, a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable array (FPA) A programmable logic unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions.

The processing device may execute an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the operating system. The processing device may also access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to execution of the software.

For ease of understanding, the processing apparatus may be described as being used singly, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the processing apparatus may have a plurality of processing elements and / As shown in FIG. For example, the processing unit may comprise a plurality of processors or one processor and one controller. Other processing configurations are also possible, such as a parallel processor.

The software may include a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more of the foregoing, and may be configured to configure the processing device to operate as desired or to process it collectively or collectively Device can be commanded.

The software and / or data may be in the form of any type of machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage media, or device , Or may be permanently or temporarily embodied in a transmitted signal wave. The software may be distributed over a networked computer system and stored or executed in a distributed manner. The software and data may be stored on one or more computer readable recording media.

The method according to an embodiment may be implemented in the form of a program command that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like, alone or in combination. The program instructions to be recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and configured for the embodiments or may be available to those skilled in the art of computer software.

Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magnetic media such as floppy disks; Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like.

Examples of program instructions include machine language code such as those produced by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

The hardware devices described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the embodiments, and vice versa.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. For example, it is to be understood that the techniques described may be performed in a different order than the described methods, and / or that components of the described systems, structures, devices, circuits, Lt; / RTI > or equivalents, even if it is replaced or replaced.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be determined by the equivalents of the claims, as well as the claims.

Claims (20)

In a flexible device,
A display unit which can be bent by an external force;
A sensor unit for sensing at least one of a bending operation and a folding operation of the flexible device; And
And a control unit for determining appearance information of the flexible device modified by the at least one operation and controlling to move an object in the screen displayed on the display unit based on the appearance information. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit controls the display unit to divide the screen into at least one area based on at least one bending area or at least one folding area and to control the object to move based on the appearance information of the at least one area, device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the display unit displays an image on which the object moves based on the appearance information. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein,
Detecting a first region in which the object is located among the at least one region and moving the object based on at least one of a slope of the first region and a friction force of a portion corresponding to the first region in the screen A flexible device to control. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the movement speed of the object moved by the control unit in the first area,
The second region being proportional to the slope of the first region and inversely proportional to the frictional force of the portion corresponding to the first region. 5. The method of claim 4,
When the slope of the first region is different from the slope of the second region,
Wherein the control section controls the speed of the object in the first area to be different from the speed of the object in the second area. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the control unit controls to move the object based on at least one of the peripheral information of the moving object and the moving direction of the object. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the peripheral information comprises at least one of a size of the obstacle in the first area and a number of the obstacles. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a user interface for receiving an input signal that determines the magnitude of the force and the direction of the force virtually applied to the object on the screen. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the control unit controls to move an object in the screen based on the input signal and the appearance information. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the input signal is a swipe input, a flick input, or a drag and drop input. 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the user interface is a touch panel that senses a touch input, and the touch panel is integrated with the display unit to sense the touch input. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the sensor unit acquires physical information of the flexible device modified by the at least one operation,
Wherein the controller determines the appearance information of at least one area based on the physical information. 14. The method of claim 13,
Wherein the physical information comprises at least one of a bending angle, a bending curvature, a folding angle, and a folding curvature of the flexible device. 3. The method of claim 2,
The sensor unit includes:
And a plurality of sensors provided on one surface of the display unit and bent integrally with the display unit. 3. The method of claim 2,
The screen is displayed as a three-dimensional image,
Wherein the controller controls to change the at least one area of the at least one area so that three-dimensional data corresponding to the at least one area is changed and move the object in the changed image,
Wherein the display unit displays a screen on which the object moves in the changed image. In a method of operating a flexible device,
Sensing at least one of a bending operation and a folding operation of the flexible device;
Determining appearance information of the flexible device modified by the at least one operation; And
And controlling to move an object in a screen displayed on the display unit of the flexible device based on the appearance information. 18. The method of claim 17,
Wherein the step of determining the appearance information comprises:
And distinguishing the screen into at least one area based on at least one bending area or at least one folding area,
The step of controlling to move the object further comprises:
Detecting a first region of the at least one region in which the object is located; And
Controlling a movement of the object based on at least one of a slope of the first region, a friction force of a portion corresponding to the first region in the screen, and the like. 18. The method of claim 17,
Further comprising receiving an input signal that determines a magnitude of a force and a direction of a force virtually applied to the object in the screen,
The step of controlling to move the object further comprises:
And controls to move the object within the screen based on the input signal and the appearance information. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing a method of operating a flexible device,
Sensing at least one of a bending operation and a folding operation of the flexible device;
Determining appearance information of the flexible device modified by the at least one operation; And
And controlling to move an object in a screen displayed on the display unit of the flexible device based on the appearance information.

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